Dominion of the Shadow
by WWKC121
Summary: Things are finally beginning to get easier for Finn and Jake. Ice King has stopped going after princesses, the Candy Kingdom is prospering, and Finn and Flame Princess are dating. But when kingdoms begin to be invaded by an unknown army, Finn, Jake, and their friends are forced to leave to find the one man who may be able to stop the invasion.
1. Chapter 1

Inside a tree house in the grasslands...

"Jake!" Finn yelled, "Where did you last see Beemo?"

"I think he was at his soccer practice."

"Oh. Did you pick him up?"

"Uh…"

"You just left him there, didn't you?"

"Uh…"

"Never mind, I'll go and get him," Finn said irritably as he climbed down the ladder. He walked towards the door through the piles of treasure and opened it.

"FINN!"

Princess Bubblegum stood outside the door, panting, looking rather bedraggled with a ripped dress and a large branch stuck into her hair.

"Princess, you seriously need to get some concept of knocking. I mean…Wait, what happened?"

"Candy…Kingdom…under attack," Princess Bubblegum groaned.

"Well then why didn't you say so?" Jake exclaimed as he ran out the door, placing Finn and Princess Bubblegum on his back. Jake began running towards the kingdom, growing to an immense size so he could travel faster.

"Who's attacking PB?" Finn asked.

"I don't know, I woke up to screaming and saw a bunch of people attacking the kingdom. I sent the banana guards to defend, but, well, they are bananas. As the three closed in on the Candy Kingdom, they could hear the sound of helicopters and screaming. Princess Bubblegum took out a radio from her pocket.

"Captain Banana Guard, what is the status?"

"It isn't good Princess, the Candycopters would give us air superiority but they are using some sort of catapult to knock us right out of the sky. Whoever is commanding these guys is a tactical genius; he seems to know what we will do far before we do."

"Ok, just hold in there, Captain Banana Guard."

…

"Captain Banana Guard?"

All that could be heard over the radio was static. Finn and Princess Bubblegum looked at each other grimly.

"I can see the Kingdom!" Jake yelled as they rose over a hill.

Massive fires burned as Candy Citizens fled out the rear gate. At the Candy Castle, 3 Candycopters flew laying down suppressing fire of mints as a number of rock golems approached. Near the rear gates, some creatures similar to flambits were lobbing balls of flame at a line of banana guards who were using their spears to hold off what appeared to be immense rats. A Gumball Guardian was being held absorbed by an immense goo creature.

"Okay princess, I'll go take down that goo creature if-"

"No Finn, there is no time. The kingdom in lost. Hold off the creatures attacking the citizens and rally the banana guards. If my kingdom falls, my people must not. Jake, see if you can help the Gumball Guardian with his goo problem. If you stretch enough from the inside, you'll spread him thin so he can't reassemble. But don't get stuck in a fight you can't win. We can regroup at the treehouse."

"Will do Princess." Finn ran off towards the line of banana guards, who were beginning to flee in terror. He drew his demon blood sword, yelling "Hey you rat! Go pick on something as ugly as you are!" The rats turned towards him. "Yeah, that's right. I'm talking to you!" They all jumped forwards as one. Finn gulped. He had their attention now all right.

Jake soon realized he should have probably asked for another job. Not only was the goo monster strong, but it smelled like rancid baked beans mixed with cat vomit.

"Ugh…go away and explode you stupid thing! Come on, why couldn't you smell like an apple pie or something?" Jake said while stretching. As he expanded, looking like a giant green beach ball, he realized that if he rolled a tiny bit to the right, he might be able to puncture the slime's exterior with the spire on top of the Candy Castle.

"C'mon, just a little more...there!" The slime exploded into a thousand pieces. "Ha! Serves you right! Wait…uh oh…" Jake realized he was rolling on top of the castle. "Oops…"

Flame Princess sighed as she waited by the cliff near her house. Finn was supposed to meet her there, but for some reason hadn't shown up. She knew he was often busy with being a hero and saving people, but why couldn't he just be her hero? Worse was the fact that he could easily get injured or killed. She hoped he was all right. Suddenly, she heard a moaning voice behind her. Two zombie dogs wearing strange hats were shambling towards her. She looked around in confusion. Why in the world would someone specifically go through the trouble of sending zombie dogs after her? She could understand zombies, but zombie dogs? She then heard what they were saying.

"Finn…you always were a weak child…we wish we had never picked you up when we found you in the forest…we hate you, Finn…"

Flame Princess realized that the dogs were some sort of distraction for Finn. But why would someone send something targeting Finn after her? Especially when Finn was not there?

"No matter…Whoever you are, you should have thought more before toying with the emotions of a fire elemental! Die!" The zombie dogs disappeared in an instant, leaving behind a pair of cracked rock golems with hologram projectors.

Finn moaned as he finished off another group of rat-people with Jake.

"Dude…huh…huh…I am so tired…huh…huh…" Finn panted.

"Yeah…huh…this is worse than the time I spent awake with the pups…" Jake replied.

Suddenly they spotted what appeared to be a fire elemental who looked like a younger version of the flame king coming towards them. Strangely enough, it did not throw any fireballs, but simply said the same thing over and over again.

"Flame Princess…you are too dangerous…you will never be liked by anyone in the world..."

"Well guess what?" Finn replied.

"What?" The Flame King replied, strangely, considering he appeared to be replaying an audio tape.

"I like her!" Finn ran towards the young flame king and swung his sword at it. Strangely, the king disappeared, leaving a decapitated rock golem.

"I wonder why someone would create a distraction for Flame Princess but use it on me." Finn wondered.

"Finn! We are getting out of here!" Jake yelled. He had stretched his body to carry the candy people and was helping the last of them on.

"Okay!" Finn jumped, landing above Jake's head. Jake ran off, leaving the smoldering ruins of the candy kingdom behind as the survivors fled for the treehouse.

Inside the ruins of the Candy Castle, a hunchbacked figure cowered before an altar.

"M-m-master… I have destroyed the Candy Kingdom… not a single house still stands and Princess Bubblegum's Candy Castle is a smoldering wreck…"

"Good…good…and the hero and his fiery lady?"

"T-t-they are alive, my lord… I-I accidentally switched the orders and they got the distractions meant for one another…"

"YOU IGNORANT FOOL! If I were even at a fraction of my true power your incompetence would cause you to be obliterated…but luckily for you, I still have need of you and your petty plans…You will step up your efforts. Attack the Wildberry and Breakfast Kingdoms. They will fall easily and will terrify our enemies.

Inside a treehouse surrounded by terrified candy people, a group of friends met to discuss the recent happenings in the Candy Kingdom. There, sitting around a battered table, were a talking dog, a vampire with a bass guitar ax, a fourteen year old boy wearing oven mitts holding hands with a flaming girl, an old blue man who was constantly fiddling with the penguin in his lap, and a pink girl with Bubblegum hair.

"What I don't understand is why the Candy Kingdom was attacked," said the vampire with the bass guitar.

"Well, the Candy Kingdom is at the center of kingdom politics following the treaty of the united kingdoms as per section 18 column six," said the flaming girl.

"How did you get to know so much about kingdom politics?" asked the boy.

"When you are trapped in a lamp you have a lot of time to read…" the girl said sadly.

The table was silent for the moment.

"Anyway, my question is, why would someone who appeared to be a tactical genius during the invasion of the Candy Kingdom turn into an idiot when he switched the plans targeting Finn and FP?" the dog asked.

"Occasionally genius plans are done badly by inferiors." The pink girl replied. She took out a holocomputer and began typing pulling up images of the battle. "I feel like I have seen some of this before…there! She zoomed in on a flag. The flag had a 18 pointed star with lightning coming from each corner, imprinted on a shield. "The last time I saw that flag was when my father was king. That is the flag of the Shadow King. The Shadow King was killed by Billy though…He must have survived somehow. If that is the case, we must find someone I have not seen for a long time…the Tactician.

**Author's Note:**

**I do not own Adventure Time**

**Well? Did you like it? Should I keep on going with this? Is the sky blue? Do pigs fly? Will I continue to ask rhetorical questions? Anyway, if I keep on going with this, I will try to update it as often as I can, probably twice a week. Sometimes I may update it twice on weekends, I don't know. See you in a weeks time! WWKC out!**


	2. And so it begins

The band of heroes separated after their meeting, heading to different corners of the tree house and placing sleeping bags on the floor. Because of the sheer number of refugees, the group had decided to loan their mattresses to the injured in the tent serving as a makeshift hospital. As the sky slowly turned red, Finn sat on the roof of the house, staring towards the cloud of smoke near the Candy Kingdom.

"Why do things like this always seem to happen to me?" he said, curling his knees into his chest. This was the third time he had to avert a possible apocalypse, fourth if you count the time he saved Flame Princess from destabilizing her elemental matrix. He closed his eyes, wondering why he couldn't have a normal life. As he opened them, he saw a series of sparks rising from the roof. He rose slowly, recognizing them.

"Hey… I've seen those before! Those are dad's sparkles. He stopped; realizing that the area he was about to walk on was not supported like the rest of the roof. He carefully took a step forwards onto the leaves. He exhaled, relieved it had held, and took another step...

The leaves fell with a crack. Finn landed on his side and rubbed his head. He was in a small room with a cupboard to one side and no windows or doors.

"I don't remember this being here…"

He opened the cupboard carefully, trying not to disturb anything.

There, sitting in the middle of the cupboard covered by an old coat and a rotting banana, was a hologram player.

"Dad has another message!" Finn exclaimed, excitedly putting the holodisc into the player.

The pink hologram sprung to life, revealing the old dog standing in the middle, carrying his demon-blood sword.

"Dad!" Finn said.

"Hello Finn." The hologram started playing. "If you are seeing this message, this means that you have completed my dungeon, proving yourself as a hero, and that a great disaster has befallen Ooo." Joshua stepped forwards, revealing a young Finn and Jake behind him. "I have seen this coming for a while now, and let me say that it won't be easy. But I have two pieces of advice: One, believe in yourself. You have more determination than any kid I know, and I know you can do it. Two, trust your friends and those you love. They are your most valuable assets as a human in this strange world of ours. If you trust them they can aid you in your journey. I love you Finn, and I know that as I look down on you now from Glob-world I am proud of you."

"Wait! Dad! What is the disaster?"

"Remember Finn, even though this holomessage appears to perfectly replicate a conversation with you. I can't hear you!"

"But-"

"Butts are for pooping! Do it for poppy!" The message cut off, leaving the room dark.

"Dad…"

* * *

Flame Princess found Finn on the roof, looking towards the horizon. She walked towards him nervously. She had been searching for him for about 15 minutes now, and had almost given up. She sat down next to him, looking off into the horizon as well.

"Hey…" she said, attempting to get his attention.

"Hey."

"Listen, I was wondering, am I coming?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

FP winced, worried that she shouldn't have asked. "I mean…uhh…on the mission…" she trailed off, wondering why she couldn't say something a bit more eloquent.

"Of course!"

"Really?" she said, relieved she wasn't being left behind.

"Yeah! What gave you that crazy idea?"

"Well…I guess when I was in that lamp, nobody took me anywhere, even if it was important."

"Well, you're coming with us…I mean…er…If you want to…"

"Do I!" She ecstatically pulled him into a hug, then winced as she realized she set his shirt on fire.

"Aaah!" Finn rolled, putting the flames out and causing her to cringe slightly. Even after all the time they'd been together, she still wasn't used to someone putting them out.

"Oh my glob! Are you okay?"

Finn sat up, looking at the charred spot on his shirt. He examined it, then gasped and fell over.

"I knew it! I'm so sorry Finn." She said, looking at him. "I'll get some Cyclops tears…"

Finn rose steadily, reaching an arm out towards her.

"Finn?" She noticed a greenish gleam in his eyes. "Finn!"

Finn stepped towards her, and suddenly everything went black save for him. Flame Princess increased her flames and stepped towards Finn.

"Finn…come towards the well Finn…" A large undead creature appeared from the darkness, huge with broken horns and a tattered cloak.

"The Lich King…" Flame Princess muttered. "Don't go towards the well! Come here!"

"Come towards the well, Finn, aren't you cold?"

"I've…got a sweater…" Finn whispered weakly.

"No, Finn…you don't have a sweater on, Finn…now, come towards the well Finn." The Lich King beckoned with a single skeletal finger.

Finn took a step towards the well.

"I've got to stop Finn from getting into that well!" Flame Princess thought. "But how? Hmm…cold…AHA!" She turned into her flame form and jetted over to Finn, increasing her flames against the cold of the Lich's cave.

"Come closer, Finn…Aren't you cold?"

"No! He's not cold! Because I can always warm him!" FP said, her flames burning brightly. She raised a hand, igniting a fireball in it and throwing it at the Lich. It burst in his face, igniting his cloak and sending flames rushing through his skeletal body.

"You think you can defeat me with a little fire, Princess of Flames? Well, two can play at that game!" The Lich raised a ball of green fire in each hand and cast it towards them. FP recognized the demon-fire, which could kill even fire elementals, and ducked her face behind her arm.

"No!" shouted Finn. He jumped in front of the fire at the last moment. The flames parted around him, sparing her, but sending Finn falling to the ground.

"Finn!" No creature could survive that blast. It was a miracle Finn wasn't incinerated. But to her amazement, Finn stood back up and turned towards her.

"You're ok…but how?" FP said quizzically. "That should have killed you."

The Lich screamed in frustration. "I thought I got rid of his little crush on the bubblegum princess! But to have it happen a second time, and without a sweater too! I'll be back!" The Lich disappeared in a ball of green flame and the world returned to normal.

"Finn…what happened back there?"

"The Lich tried to possess me again. When you stopped him, he then tried to get rid of you."

"But how did you survive?"

"The greatest weapon against evil is…um…er…"

"Liking someone a lot?" FP said, finishing Finn's sentence.

"Yeah." Finn said, blushing uncontrollably.

"C'mon, let's go back inside, Mr. I've-got-a-sweater-on-when-I-haven't."

"Yeah." Finn replied, looking considerably brighter.

"So what is this I hear about a little crush on a bubblegum princess?"

Finn blushed again, and the two walked back into the tree fort.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the kitchen of the tree fort, Ice King and Marceline sat at a table while Jake cooked some bacon pancakes.

"I can't believe you've never had bacon pancakes before." The dog sighed in disbelief.

"Hey, when you only eat shades of red it's hard to have most foods…" Marceline replied.

"Can you make mine look like Gunter?" Ice King said, picking up the penguin in question.

"Remind me again why we're bringing him along?" Jake asked.

"Something to do with the gems in his crown, I think." Finn replied, walking into the room.

"Finn! Where have you two been? You haven't been up to anything you aren't supposed to be doing, have you?" The dog asked.

"No! No! We were just on the roof…" Finn responded, blushing.

"Oh, just sitting on the roof, huh? Then why is your shirt charred?"

"Huh?" Finn looked down and realized he had forgotten to change clothes.

"Cut it out!" Flame Princess said. "Finn was possessed by the Lich.

"Oh no!" Jake exclaimed. "Is he all right now?"

"Yeah. Do I appear to be attacking you?"

"Oh. Right. So now the Lich is after us too. Just our luck. How did you stop him?"

"Well…umm…the same way as last time, except Flame Princess helped."

"What do you mean, the same way as last time?" Marceline asked curiously.

Finn blushed mumbled something about being tired, and departed for his room. Flame Princess looked around once, and then followed him out the door.

"What was that all about?" Ice King asked.

"I'll tell you later, if Finn lets me. It's his personal biz."

* * *

I don't own adventure time.

Well, you probably all thought I was dead. I did too, with the amount of work I had to do. But now I'm back with the second chapter and now that it's summer I should be able to update far more often. In response to the question about point of view, I'm kind of writing this in omniscient, which means I don't use I for any of the characters but may sometimes reveal what they're thinking. Sorry if it's confusing. How large should I try to make my chapters?

-WWKC1


	3. A Tactical Error

The next morning found the band of heroes making last-minute preparations for their departure. They packed bags full of food and equipment for their journey.

"Guys, should I bring a yoyo or Gunter's favorite movie?" The Ice King asked, carrying a pink yoyo and a copy of Heat Signature.

"Ice King, can't you bring something useful?" Jake asked, "Here, take Finn's crossbow."

The Ice King grudgingly accepted the weapon and placed it in his pack.

"Okay everyone, are you ready?" Princess Bubblegum picked up her pack and motioned towards the door.

"Just a tiny bit farther…" Flame Princess attempted to push a box of charcoal into her already stretched pack. Jake stretched over and helped her push it in.

"There!" she pulled the zipper shut and slung the bag over her back. "Let's go!"

"Are we there yet?"

"Ice King, we've only been walking for 10 minutes. Besides, you can fly, can't you?" Princess Bubblegum replied, exasperated.

"Oh yeah, right… I forgot about that." The Ice King flew ahead slightly and turned around.

"Are we there yet?"

"ICE KING!" the group yelled in unison.

2 hours later…

"PB, how far have we gone?" Finn asked.

"About 10 miles."

"Do we even know where this tactistation is?" Marceline wondered.

"Well, first it's tactician, and no, I don't. I'm just going to where I saw him last, past Mount Cragdor." PB replied.

"This could take forever!" The Ice King flopped onto his penguin. "Gunter, carry me."

"Wenk." The penguin fell forwards and pulled himself out from under the Ice King.

"I wish there was some way to go faster…" Flame Princess said as she walked near the front of the group.

"Wait! I have an idea! I'll just stretch really big and carry you all!" Jake grew to 10 times his normal size. "The Jakemobile is leaving the station! All aboard!"

The group climbed on to his back and sat down as he ran off.

They reached the Mount Cragdor as the sun set and began to set up camp after a friendly welcome from Keyper and Mannish man, who gave them some spaghetti for their trip. The group settled down around the campfire lit by Flame Princess and began cooking the spaghetti. They then distributed portions to each member of the group.

"Mmm…Good!" Finn said, taking an excessively large bite of the spaghetti.

"I thought your favorite food was meatloaf?" said Jake, taking a bite of his as well.

"That doesn't mean I can't enjoy some spaghetti!"

"Er…How are you supposed to eat this stuff?" Flame Princess said, attempting to scoop it with a fork and having the spaghetti fall off.

"You've never had spaghetti?" replied Finn.

"Fire elementals eat coal, normally."

"Oh, yeah. Like Flambo." Finn took his fork and twirled it in the spaghetti. "Like this!"

"Oh." Flame Princess mimicked his actions and succeeded in taking a bite. "Good!"

Princess Bubblegum had taken out some sort of scanner and was pointing it at the ground and at various hills nearby and the mountain.

"What are you doing PB?" Marceline asked.

"I'm scanning for his house. It's underground. But my Radioquanticandometer is being blocked by all this rock and I don't remember where it is."

"I can help with that!" Flame Princess stood up. "I'll use my heat sense!"

She spun around several times and a wave of heat flew out from her.

"Wow. There's a lot of stuff around here. There are two caves in the area, one over under the rock on that hill, and one hidden in the undergrowth over there." She pointed to a small forest behind them."

"Okay, let's split up. Me, Ice King, and Bubblegum can take the one in the hill. Finn, you, Jake, and FP can take the one in the undergrowth." Marceline said, pulling her axe-bass from her pack.

"Hey Jake, what time is it?" Finn said as he, FP, and Jake ran towards the forest.

"Adventure time!"

* * *

"Geez, it's dark in here." PB said, raising her flashlight.

"Yeah. Hey, wait, here's a light switch!" Ice King said, flipping the switch.

"Wait! Ice King, nooo!" The floor fell out from under them, and they fell down a slippery dark chute.

* * *

"Aha! Here we are!" Finn cut his way through the undergrowth revealing the mouth of the cave. "Let's go!" he jumped through the hole and into the cave.

"Looks safe! Come on down!" Flame Princess jumped down followed by Jake. The cave appeared to go on for awhile, first down and then to the side. The walls were smooth and rounded, and the floor was covered with small stones.

"This doesn't look like someone's house…and it's making me feel uneasy. Finn, we should get out of here…" Jake said nervously.

"Come on, Jake, his house probably begins farther down. Besides, we can always go back out the way we came in." Finn replied, pointing towards the hole they came in.

Suddenly, the cave shook with a low grinding noise, and the light shining from the hole began to get smaller and smaller.

"The hole is closing! Jake, stretch us back up now!" Finn yelled.

Jake grabbed Finn but winced and dropped Flame Princess as she inadvertently burned him.

"No!"

The hole was covered in a layer of rock and the cave was thrown into darkness save for Flame Princess.

"What are we going to do now?"

* * *

Marceline shot out of the chute into a clean, well-lit room, landing on the floor. PB and Ice King flew out behind her, landing next to her. She stood up and flew over to the chute, looking back up. A faint light glowed in the distance.

"You were right, Ice King, it was a light switch. Only it also activated a trapdoor!

"Hey, it's not my fault. Who puts a trapdoor activated by a light switch anyway? Well, actually, I have one of those too, but…" The Ice King trailed off as the door opened. An old, bald man with a unkempt beard stepped into the room carrying some sort of laser.

"Drop your weapons!"

Marceline put down her axe-bass.

"You too, with the crown!"

The Ice King sighed, carefully taking off the crown and putting it on the floor.

"That's better. What do you want?" The man said irritably.

"Um…we're looking for a guy called the tactician and we thought he might live here."

"The Tactician? I haven't heard that title for a long, long time…"

"I used to know him. I thought he was dead." PB asked.

"Oh, he's not dead. Not yet."

"You know him?"

"But of course I know him! He's me!" The man said, bursting into laughter. Marceline paused for a second; thinking back to the conversation, then began laughing too.

"Oh, that was a good one!" Marceline laughed.

"What exactly is so funny?" PB asked, bemused and a little angry.

"Ah, it was before your time. A real classic though. I'm surprised you don't remember it, Simon." The man answered, peering at the Ice King.

"Do I know you?" The Ice King asked curiously.

"We traveled together, me, you, and Marceline. I guess the crown really wiped your memories. I was just Mark back then, that was before I was known as the Tactician. Pretty stupid title anyway, I preferred Mark. But on to a more serious note, why are you here?"

"The Shadow King is rising. We need your help to defeat him. In addition, we have seen signs that the Lich may be helping him." Princess Bubblegum asked.

"What kind of signs?" The Tactician (or Mark, as he would prefer to be called) asked, his face suddenly becoming grim.

"Our friend Finn was possessed by the Lich and barely managed to throw him off. Finn fought the Lich twice before, both times with almost dire consequences."

"Is he a hero?" Mark (or the Tactician, as he would prefer not to be called) reached into his pack and grabbed around for something.

"Well, yeah, I guess. He thinks of himself as one." Marceline scratched her head. "I mean, he's not really like Billy, but he has helped a lot of people…"

"Marceline! Of course he's a hero! He's saved Ooo three times!" Princess Bubblegum exclaimed.

"Ok! Ok! No need to get so defensive about your knight, Bonnibel…" Marceline laughed, turning back towards Mark.

"So where is he now?" Mark said, finally pulling out some sort of hologram device from his pack.

"Oh, him, his dog, and his girlfriend are in a cave we thought might be your home in the undergrowth in the forest."

Mark's face drained of color. "This is not good. We have to go there immediately."

"What's wrong with the cave?" Princess Bubblegum asked worriedly.

"It's not a cave. It's a dungeon designed to trap and kill people!"

* * *

_Dungeon Crawl__  
__It's the greatest crawl of all__  
__No crawl's too small__  
__For a Dungeon Crawl_

"Finn, can you please stop singing that song?" Jake said irritably. "You only know like eight lines and it doesn't even make sense."

"I can't help it man. This is what you do in dungeons."

"But this isn't a dungeon! It's just a cave!" Jake yelled.

"Are you sure it's not a dungeon? There are some bones and things…Oh! Look! A gauntlet!" Flame Princess reached down and put on the metal glove. "Don't you find gauntlets in dungeons?"

"Yes, but you find them in other places too!" Jake sighed, exasperated.

"Whatevs. I think it's a dungeon." Finn replied.

The three continued walking for a bit, until suddenly Finn, who was at the front, stopped. "Ssh! Did you hear that?" he whispered.

"Who dares enter my dungeon?" A booming voice echoed through the caves. The three quickly hid behind a rock.

"I told you it was a dungeon!" Finn whispered.

"Ah, so it is you, Frank the Human…and I see you have Jack the Log and Fame Princess with you…"

"Dang it! Not this guy again!" Finn whispered, rather loudly.

"How did he almost know my name?" FP asked quietly.

"I have approximate knowledge of many things, including the conversation you are having at the moment."

"Finn! How do we defeat this guy?" Jake stretched his hand into a fist. "Punch him?"

"No…what made him go away last time...dogs? He's afraid of dogs!"

"He thinks I'm a log though…"

"Just scare him!"

Jake grew 4 times his normal size and jumped from behind the rock barking.

"What? A barking log? This makes no sense! I will defeat you, strange yellow barking log!" The demon cat leapt forwards, scratching at Jake. Finn jumped from behind the rock, drawing his demon-blood sword as Flame Princess summoned a fireball.

"This is for trying to eat my eyes! Finn jumped forwards, slashing the demon cat across the face. The cat slapped him away with his tail and pushed Jake backwards into a stalagmite, then suddenly backed away.

"Dog! You're not a log! You're a dog!" The demon cat ran off.

"Jake! Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" He shrunk down to his normal size. "Let's keep on searching for an exit."

Soon, they came upon a split in the tunnel. One branch went to the right and slightly up, while the other continued downward.

"Jake, can you smell which way we should go?" Finn asked.

Jake sniffed at the ground a couple times.

"The upper path smells more like aboveground."

"Let's go!" The three ran down the tunnel, but stopped suddenly as the tunnel turned into a dead end.

"Jake, I thought this would lead us back up!"

"It should have! Maybe there was a cave-in or something." He punched the rock and winced as the rock failed to move.

"Ouch!"

"Wait! Guys, look!" Flame Princess pointed to where Jake had punched. A square of rock was sliding into the cave wall, a strange rune glowing blue on it. The rock steadily slid in, then stopped.

"Huh. I wonder what that-"

Everything went black and silent.

* * *

Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger there! Normally I avoid this, but I don't have a lot of time and wanted to update today. A clarification: I'm using a third person omniscient style of writing, which means I will switch between character's POVs. I can tell you who's POV it is for each section if you want me to, but I haven't yet. I've heard this a million times, but I just want to say: SCIK's stories are amazingly awesomely amazing, if you want some amazingness to read.

Oh yeah, extra points if you can tell me what the Tactician (I mean Mark) is referencing when he first is introduced to them.


	4. Brother

Finn awoke lying on the floor in a small, damp cell. The walls were made of solid rock; the prison had been cut out of the stone around it. On the wall there were a series of scars where miners had missed with whatever they were using to excavate the cell. In a corner sat a small cot, barely more than a pile of straw. He sat up rubbing his head, and thought back to what had happened. After the room went black, he had walked around, calling for his friends with no response. After about five minutes, the room became slightly brighter, and a hissing noise came from the walls as a strange gas came from the walls. He had lost consciousness and must have been taken to the cell.

"Jake? FP?" he yelled, trying to find out if they were anywhere nearby.

"Finn! Is that you?" Jake called back. "I'm in the cell next to yours."

"Do you know where Flame Princess is?"

"I'm over here!" Flame Princess called from the cell to Jake's left.

"We thought you were dead! After I accidentally pressed that button, a wall came down and separated us!"

"That explains why the room went black…but how did they get you guys?" Finn asked, sticking his head through the bars to get a better look at the hallway.

"This weird gas came out of the walls, and we fell asleep."

"That's what happened to me too!"

"Prisoners are not allowed to talk!" A tall man walked into the room, with green skin and a long nose. "I created this dungeon to trap the fools seeking to meet with my brother, that stupid Tactician. So tell me, what exactly are _you_-" He cast a disparaging look at the three cells the prisoners were in "-seeking my brother for?"

"We're trying to def-"

"Finn, no! This guy is evil!" Jake exclaimed, cutting off Finn midsentence.

"Tell me what you are trying to do! Now!" The man picked up a long pole with two prongs at the end and waved it at Finn menacingly and also slightly insanely.

"Never!"

The man aimed the pole at Finn and hit a button. Two bolts of electricity flew out of the pole and hit Finn in the chest.

"Ow!" Finn exclaimed, rubbing the spot where it hit him.

"Give in!"

"Neve-ow!"

This process was repeated many times, until the man had had enough and Finn's shirt had a smoking hole in it.

"Fine. If you won't tell, then I'll resort to other means." He said with a manic grin. "Let's see what water does to this fire elemental, eh?" The man turned a knob on a pipe behind him, and the gushing of water filled the silence.

"Finn? The floor of my cell is being covered with water!" Flame Princess said nervously.

"It'll be fine, FP. I'll figure something out." Finn comforted her as he searched his brain for a solution.

"Finn! It's like an inch deep now." Flame Princess was now panicking as the water began to cover the higher ground she was standing on. She leaped over to the cot, standing on her pillow. She felt a cold, sharp sensation as the edge of one of her feet touched the water.

"Finn!"

"All right! I'll tell you. Just turn off the water."

"Very well." The man turned the knob back to its starting position.

"We're looking for the Tactician because we need his help to defeat the Lich and the Shadow King."

"Thank you. But she'll still die." The man said and then twisted the knob back so the water started flowing again.

"WHAT? You told us you would turn off the water!"

"Of course I did! I'm evil!"

"But-"

"Evil." The man walked out of the door.

"Finn! Do something" Flame Princess was levitating over the water now, but she couldn't fly too much higher or she'd hit the ceiling.

"Jake! Can you make your key-hand?"

"No can do, Finn, my lock's a combination and so is FP's."

"Open my cell then!" Jake stretched his hand and fumbled for the keyhole on Finn's door. Finn leaped out and attempted to turn the knob back.

"I can't turn it, it has a combination lock too!" Finn said frantically, recognizing the small dial next to the knob.

"What kind of guy locks his pipes?" Jake grumbled.

"They've got to have the combination around here somewhere!" He ran down the corridor a bit and found a sign, with some keys hanging at the bottom.

_Combination:_

_If you seek to open the door_

_Or stop the water's steady pour_

_Then solve this riddle you must_

_Or the lock is doomed to rust_

_The combination is equal to_

_The sum of two cubes in ways two_

"Dang! I'm no good at math!"

"Hurry Finn!" FP called, bending over as she tried to avoid the still rising water and the ceiling.

"Ok, let's see…the sum of two cubes in two different ways…wait…a cube's just an object! How do you add objects? This makes no sense!"

"One thousand, seven hundred and twenty-nine…" A faint voice called in the distance.

"What? Jake, did you hear that?"

"Yeah! That sounded like Princess Bubblegum!"

"One thousand, seven hundred and twenty nine…" The voice called, this time louder.

"I think they're getting closer! What did PB say?"

"ONE THOUSAND, SEVEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY NINE!"

Princess Bubblegum, Marceline, and the Ice King crashed through the door, riding on some kind of rocket car piloted by Mark (or the Tactician, but I'm just going to call him Mark from now on).

Finn entered the passcode, and with a click, the door opened, letting out a stream of water. Flame Princess flew out immediately afterwards, stressed but no worse for wear. The team quickly opened up Jake's cell.

"How did you know that, PB?" Jake asked as he opened the cell containing their belongings.

"It's a famous number. It's weird how important it is. This guy once thought-"

"You don't need to explain, it's fine." Jake said, turning towards Finn. Princess Bubblegum sighed, nobody ever wanted to hear that story.

"Are you the Tactician?" Finn asked curiously.

"Why can't anybody call me Mark?" Mark replied exasperatedly.

"Wait, are you a human?"

"No, I'm kind of a mutant like the Ice King. I used to be human, but then a radioactive potion that made me lose my human-ness got me. Let that be a lesson to you, boy! Stay away from radioactive stuff!"The man shook his fist at the ceiling.

The team got on the rocket sled and began flying out of the cave. They crashed through the door and weaved through some stalactites.

"We're almost there!" Jake yelled.

As they neared the exit, someone suddenly stepped in front of the rocket sled. Mark pulled the sled to a stop and turned on the headlights.

"Mark Aureus." The tall man stood, blocking their way.

"Brother." Mark replied, glaring at the taller man.

"I am no brother of yours!" The man spat at his feet. "You think I would just let you go?"

"No. But these ones must. This is for the fate of the world. We have to stop the Lich and the Shadow King. Even you must know that."

"There are many things you don't know about me brother. Why would I let you stop the Shadow King? If he comes to rule, I could benefit greatly."

"I see there is not reasoning with you."

"As do I." Mark's brother took the pole he had used to zap Finn earlier and held a button. A nimbus of blue, crackling energy formed around the head of the pole.

"Prepare to die." He released the stream of energy, sending it flying towards the rocket sled, but Ice King blocked it with an ice shield.

"Let's get out of here! Simon, keep blocking their shots!" Mark activated the engines and jetted off.

"What-mon?" The Ice King replied, throwing up another shield.

"Watch out!" Finn blocked a stream of lightning with his sword.

"Ok, I'm activating the emergency engines. Hold on!" The rocket sled accelerated, drawing away from Mark's brother.

"I will get you!" Mark's brother called as they flew away.

They flew the rocket sled about 10 miles away, to a small hill bordering a lake. They landed the sled and got off.

"I'm hungry after all that adventuring. Let's eat lunch!" Jake said, thinking about food as always. They spread out a blanket and got out a pot to heat the spaghetti in.

"Oh great, we don't have any water. Finn, can you get some?" Jake handed him a pair of empty buckets.

"I'll help too, Finn." Flame Princess stood up and grabbed a bucket. The pair walked off towards the lake.

"Why would a fire elemental want to get water?" Mark asked, confused.

"Oh, she's Finn's girlfriend. They probably just want some alone time."Jake replied.

"Are you sure they won't get up to something...you know..."

"Well, they can't do anything other than hug, any more than that and FP will blow a hole to the center of the earth. It was kind of frightening when it first happened, but it saves me a lot of work making sure they don't get into trouble. Besides, Finn's pretty righteous anyway. He'd listen to me."

"Hmm…" Mark stared into the distance, lost in thought. "I'm going to grab something from my lab." He flew off on the rocket sled.

"I wonder what he's up to. Hey, what are you reading, Princess?"

"Oh, I'm reading this paper Mark wrote about the effects of zanoidal ionization on quantum boson tunneling through electron-volt capacitors. It's quite interesting, actually-" Princess Bubblegum stopped, realizing that Jake had fallen asleep.

"Yeesh, that sounds more boring than the _Dream Journal of a Boring Man Volume 12_" Marceline said. "I'm off to find something more interesting." She flew off into the distance.

"Well, at least Mark will listen to me." PB sighed.

* * *

As soon as they were out of earshot from the group, Finn turned to Flame Princess.

"Why are you coming to pick up water? Not that I don't want you to come, but you normally avoid bodies of water."

"I just wanted to say…thanks for saving me."

"It wasn't really me, without PB I couldn't have done it."

"Yeah but if you hadn't given Mark's brother the information, the water would have gotten me." She kissed him on the cheek. " So that's for saving me." Finn blushed. Flame Princess drew back, and then slapped him on the same cheek. "And that's for revealing important information! You knew he was evil, Finn!"

"I'm sorry, FP. I just…needed to save you and I didn't know any other options. I…I love you, Flame Princess, and if you died I'd probably become as crazy as the Ice King."

Flame Princess laughed at the idea of Finn as the Ice King and then became more serious. "I love you too, Finn." They walked back to the camp holding hands. As they walked over the hilltop, they saw Jake preparing the campfire while PB talked to Mark about something, which must not have been that interesting as Mark appeared to be falling asleep.

"You guys are back!" Jake exclaimed. "Give me the bucket and I'll start the spaghetti."

Finn and FP looked at each other nervously. They had completely forgotten about their task.

"You guys forgot, didn't you?" Jake looked at them, seeing they didn't have their buckets. Jake looked like he was about to lecture them, but was interrupted by Mark, who was using their appearance to get out of his conversation with PB.

"Oh! I have something for you guys!" He said, rummaging through a bag. He pulled out a small spherical machine, about the size of a light bulb. It had a meter on the side reading zero and a surface like that of a golf ball. He set it down in front of them.

"Activate keyboard."

A holographic keyboard and screen were projected out of the ball, and he began typing. The pair stepped back nervously.

"Set target: 10 meters, greatest energy source."

A dish popped out of the top of the ball and focused on Flame Princess.

"Er, what are you doing?" Flame Princess asked nervously.

"Target locked." The ball replied in a expressionless, monotone voice.

"Mark? Seriously, what are you doing?" The man appeared to be tuning them out, focused completely on the sphere in front of him.

"Activate."

"Error. Not in close enough proximity to target." Mark grumbled, picking up the sphere and moving it to Flame Princess's feet. She began to step back, but Mark grabbed her arm, stopping her. Finn drew his sword.

"Seriously, stop."

"Activate."

"Stop! Finn raised his sword and pointed it at Mark, who suddenly realized something had been happening while he was focused on the sphere.

A blue energy field spread over Flame Princess, glowing lightly. She pulled her arm away and backed towards Finn, but the ball extended spider-like legs and followed her. Finn raised his sword, slicing towards the ball, but the sword hit an invisible surface and glanced off.

"Commence matrix repair." The Tactician said, ignoring Finn's sword. "Don't worry, this is to help you guys."

The blue field contracted. Flame Princess felt a strange tickling sensation, which soon stopped, leaving her feeling lighter than ever before. The blue field expanded once more to surround her.

"Activate clear color setting." The field turned clear and disappeared. Finn lowered his sword, but didn't put his sword back into his backpack.

"Dampen all non-hostile energy flow." The field glowed once more, but quickly faded again. The small sphere retracted its legs but maintained the field projector.

"Why do I feel so light and free?" Flame Princess asked, overcome with a strange joy that suffused her body.

"I've stabilized the decay of your core matrix and dampened your energy output to standard survival levels."

"Uh…what?" Finn and Flame Princess looked at him, confused.

Mark sighed. "Princess, your elemental matrix is repaired and you won't burn Finn."

Finn blushed, looking at the ground, but FP acted before him, practically throwing herself into his arms and kissing him. After about 10 seconds, the group began to get a bit uncomfortable and Finn and FP separated.

"Now, before you continue that somewhere else, just a few final things: This is M.A.R.S., which stands for Multifunctional Advanced Robotic Sphere. Just call him Mars though, he likes it better that way. Keep him near you or the dampening will wear off, but as long as you're within about 500 feet it should be fine. He can do a couple of other things than just fix relationship problems, so you may want to ask me later about it. I built him a long time ago to help out in the lab."

The couple nodded mutely, still somewhat in shock. Finn put Mars in his backpack the couple walked off, presumably to try out the new dampener.

"Thanks for making my supervision duties that much harder." Jake said dryly.

* * *

Hey! Another day, another update! Did you like my chapter? I just saw Frost and Fire on Netflix (Further portions of this content may be Frost and Fire spoilers), made me feel kind of sad. But Flinn shipping isn't over, or at least that's what SCIK said, so I'll take her word for it. This story will assume that they get back together, although part of me feels Finn was such an idiot he deserves it. But I hope FP gets back together with him in the end. I'm glad you guys like my story, whether you reviewed it or not, but those who did review it, thank you. By showing that you like my story you inspire me as a writer (and adventure time fan). As the Ice King said, "Maybe we can all learn something from these sandwiches..."

See you in a couple of days!


	5. Ice King presses all the wrong buttons

Hey! Sorry I haven't updated for a while, I had to help my grandfather move into a retirement home and immediately afterwards began school. This is the first free day I've had so far, so sorry for not updating. I've realized that this fanfiction site really needs more variety, currently there are only FionnaXMarshal fics, which are fine, but all follow the same basic pattern. Just watched Frost and Fire (I get episodes slightly delayed), and although Finn was a complete and total idiot, I hope they will get back together. This fanfiction will assume that happens. I also realized that my first chapter isn't very good, probably because I wrote it a long time ago. I may revise it later.

* * *

As the sun set, Princess Bubblegum, Jake, Marceline, and Mark gathered around the campfire.

"Smmm mffff mmm pmnn? Jake said, his mouth full of spaghetti.

"Excuse me?" PB replied. "Jake, don't chew and talk at the same time."

Jake swallowed. "So what's the plan? How are we going to stop the Lich and the Shadow King?"

"To defeat the Lich and the Shadow King, we will need 2 things, a weapon capable of destroying the Lich and an army to fight the Shadow King's soldiers." Mark replied.

"So we need to find Billy's Gauntlet?" Marceline asked.

"Unfortunately, the gauntlet is destroyed. Finn used it against the Lich, but the Lich crushed it." PB replied.

Mark threw a stick into the fire. "Then there is only one option. We must go to the original laboratories that created the gauntlet and use the prototype."

"Wasn't the gauntlet developed from a much larger projector?" PB asked.

"Yes. It was originally about the size of a room, so it will be harder to operate but more powerful."

"What're you talking about?" FP and Finn walked over the hill to the fire.

"We're discussing our plans for how to stop the Lich. We need to find the prototype of Billy's gauntlet."

"What would this gauntlet look like? Something like this?" FP drew an image of the gauntlet. It was a small room with a large crystal in one wall and with four mirrors on the walls. 12 objects were aimed, three at each mirror, around another crystal, this one a cube rotated on its side and held by a pair of clamps. Another crystal floated in the center of the room.

"Yeah! That looks like it! Where did you see this?" PB exclaimed excitedly.

"I was exploring a little abandoned factory with Finn and got separated from him by a trap. I found a door that I couldn't open. There was a little image of it on the wall, with a sign above it that said "Matter-Laser Projector (Gauntlet Prototype)". Immediately afterwards Finn found me, and we left."

"Do you know where it is?"

"Yeah, it's not that far from here. Maybe a mile or two."

"Let's go!" Finn stood up excitedly.

"Uh, Finn, it's kind of late. Maybe we should get some rest first." Marceline said, laughing.

"Ok."

The group placed their sleeping bags outside and put up some tents, soon to fall soundly asleep.

* * *

The Ice King flew into the camp, looking around. The campfire was almost dead and everybody appeared to be asleep.

"Guys? Hey, guys? I found something important."

Nobody awoke.

"Guys? Guess I'll just do this myself."

* * *

The next morning, the hero, the princess, the dog and the vampire awoke to the sound of a falling tree.

"What the heck?" Finn looked over, out of his sleeping bag, and saw the tree in question. It was lying on the ground, with a charred bit near the end. Flame Princess stood next to it, holding a fire sword. She turned around at Finn's noise.

"Oh, hi Finn!" the fire sword dissolved from her hand and she began walking in his direction. "I'm just making some firewood for us for the next couple days."

"How long have you been up?" Finn asked.

"I woke up like an hour or two ago and scouted the surrounding area. Also, where's Ice King?"

"I don't know, probably making it snow somewhere. Let's make some breakfast!"

* * *

The Ice King blasted down the door and stepped into the dark room. Raising a torch, he looked around on the floor, scattered with machine parts.

"Okay, Gunter, all clear." The penguin slid in on its stomach and looked around. "Wizard eyes! There he is!" The Ice King flew down the corridor.

* * *

"Here we are!" The group, with the exception of the Ice King, had arrived at the factory. The door was broken down and lay to the side. Princess Bubblegum looked at a map on the wall.

"We need to go straight down and to the left."

They stepped over the broken glass and dead robots, heading further down the corridor until they reached a fork.

"We go right."

They turned down the corridor.

"This is it!" Flame Princess ran down the corridor to the door, turning the doorknob. "It's locked!"

A large amount of wind suddenly came down the corridor.

"What was that?"

"Yeaargh!" Something flew down the corridor, throwing lightning at them. Flame Princess countered with a fireball. Finn drew his sword, Marceline raised her axe, and PB drew a strange gun-like weapon.

"Wait! Guys! It's me!" Ice King appeared from the smoke.

"Ice King! What are you doing here?"

"I followed my wizard eyes! I found something really important!"

"What is it?"

"The Baker's Shard!" Ice King pulled out the shard from under his cloak and showed it to the group.

"I wonder what that's doing there?" As the group discussed the shard, Finn walked over to the door and tried the knob. The door glowed slightly, then opened.

"Look! The door's open!" Finn stepped inside, turning on a light switch. The room was exactly as Flame Princess had described the picture, but the three gems were missing. Near the back, another door lead to a room with three seats and a glass window into the prototype gauntlet. Another door on the other side lead into what appeared to be a testing range.

"Wow…Cool!" Flame Princess looked at some of the controls in the room with the seats. "I think this is some sort of control room."

"Princess Bubblegum, does the shard normally try to float out of your hands?" Ice King was barely clinging on to the Baker's Shard, which was floating towards the center of the room. He let go, and the shard arrived at the center and turned sideways, a glow emanating from it.

"The Shard must be a piece of the machine! But we are still missing the two other crystals." PB scanned the room with a device. "One is an energy source and the other is a focusing crystal."

"Hey Bonnibel, I think I found the designs for the crystals." Marceline held up a pair of diagrams.

"Let me see." PB took the blueprints and looked through them. "I've seen the energy source before. I think I know where it is."

"I recognize the focusing crystal as well." Mark said, looking over the Princess's shoulder.

"C'mon, let's go then!" Finn turned towards the door, bumping into the Ice King, who dropped Gunther onto a large button. The entire room began to shake.

"ICE KING!"

"What's happening?"

The testing range dropped away, and the room rose, smashing through the roof.

"Somebody get to the controls!" Marceline flew through the door into the control room and pulled a lever. The room lurched sideways.

"How does this thing work?" Marceline desperately looked through the control labels as the room careened through the air, flipping end over end.

"Belbaphonic laser, reaction wheels, toroidal engine, AHA! Autopilot!" Marceline reached towards the switch but was hit by a flying chair.

"What the heck?" Gravity appeared to no longer be working, as everything was floating around without any sense of direction.

"Marceline! We're in free fall! Do something!" Pulling herself over the chair that had previously hit her, she reached for the switch.

"Almost there!" She flicked the switch next to autopilot, and the room stopped spinning suddenly, sending everyone flying into the walls and ceiling.

"Activating hover mode." The autopilot said in a mechanized voice. Everyone suddenly dropped to the floor as the room stopped falling.

"Core systems reactivated. Identifying passengers." A laser swept through the room, scanning the group.

"Performing genetic analysis."

"Subject #1: Human, 14 years of age. Hero, no threat."

"Subject #2: Candy Person Female, biologically 18-20. Candy person, no threat."

"Hey!" Princess Bubblegum said indignantly.

"Subject #3: Penguin, unknown age. Most Evil, extremely high threat."

"Wenk?" Gunther looked at the console.

"Subject #4: Vampire Demon, 1003 years old, biologically 18-20. Has a soft spot for mortals, no threat."

"What?!" Marceline glared at the console."

"Subject #5: Fire Elemental, 14 years old. Repaired elemental matrix, no threat."

"Subject #6: Magical Dog, 28 magical dog years old. Likes ice cream, no threat." A carton of ice cream fell from a slot in the ceiling in front of Jake, who immediately began eating it.

"Subject #7: Ice Wizard, former human. 1043 years old. Rather insane, no threat."

"Subject #8: Mutant, former human. 63 years old. Likes math, not very cool, no threat."

Mark looked irritated. "Hey, mathematicians are cool too!"

"Conclusion: Restrain penguin at all times. Otherwise, free to operate due to replacement of the Baker's Shard. Please restrain the penguin now."

"Sorry about this Gunther." Ice King made a leash out of ice and tied it to a handy pipe.

"So what exactly is this thing?" Finn asked, looking out the window down towards the now faraway ground.

"It's a hovercraft." Princess Bubblegum explained. "It uses concentrations of iron underground to repel a large magnet, which keeps it floating. They must have added this on for easy transport. I'm going to input the coordinates of our next destination."

"Cool! I wonder whether there's a bed anywhere in here, I need to get some rest." Finn replied, opening one of the doors.

"Sweet! There's bedrooms and everything!" Finn said, opening the door to one of the rooms. "I call this one!"

"I'd call one but mm nm mmm!" Jake said, his mouth full of ice cream.

"Wait as second. There's 7 of us but only 6 bedrooms!" PB said.

The group stared at each other for a moment, then scrambled for a room. After a long struggle in the hallway, everyone was left with a bed except Ice King.

"What? Where am I supposed to go?" Ice King asked, looking around. "Guys? I thought you were my friends!" Ice King started crying. "Why won't anyone help me in my time of need?" He sobbed.

"Fine, Ice King, you can have my room. I'll sleep in the hallway." Flame Princess said, stepping out of her room.

"Yipee!" Ice King flew into the room.

Finn poked his head out the door. "Flame Princess, I can't let you do that. You can take my room, I'll take the hallway."

"No really, it's your room Finn, you got it first." Flame Princess waved him off.

"I'm a hero, I have to do this-"

"Finn, I can do this!"

"No, let me!" Finn stepped into the hallway.

"Uh, guys?" Ice King scratched his head nervously.

"I'll do it!"

"No, I can!"

"GUYS!" Ice King yelled.

"What?" Finn and Flame Princess glared at Ice King.

"I might just have accidentally pushed a button, and, well, your room kind of fell off…"

"WHAT?" Finn and Flame Princess looked back towards Finn's door. Sure enough, the door was now closed with what appeared to be a blast shield."

"There was this button, it said something like 'In event of air leak, press to eject room' except I thought it said press to eject broom, and I wanted to see how that worked, and…I'm sorry?" Ice King ran into his room and locked the door.

"Guess we're both sleeping in the hallway tonight." Finn said resignedly.

Marceline poked her head out her door. "You know, since I float while I sleep, I don't need a bed, so you guys can take my room, but on the condition that you stop arguing and share the bed."

"Ok, I suppose." Finn and Flame Princess blushed, then ran into the room.

"And don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Marceline yelled, knowing that it wouldn't restrict them one bit.

* * *

Hey? So did you like my chapter? I hope you did. I'm trying to make them about 2000 words each. I'll try to update once a week from now on. Thanks, all of you reviewers. I'm really glad that I have people reading this. See you next time! Oh yeah, and I don't own adventure time. If I did, our heart-guts wouldn't have been yanked out by frost and fire.

-WWKC1


	6. The Lich, the Dream and the Spaceship

Salutations and good morrow! I'm back again! I'm not stopping updating yet. Thank you to all my faithful reviewers who do such a good job of inspiring me. Whether it is just to say you like the story or to point out an error, each review tells me one thing: Someone cares about the story for whatever reason, and that causes me a huge amount of happiness. So thank you, and here is an imaginary pie. Now before I turn the story into one huge authors note, let's begin.

I don't own adventure time.

Finn couldn't sleep. Normally, as an adventurer, falling asleep came pretty naturally to him. He would be tired after a long day of saving people and would drift off, happy knowing the world was now a safer place. But today was different. Even when Ice King had kept them awake all night when he used the horse costume (Finn shuddered still when remembering that) he hadn't felt threatened. Or, as he now was feeling more and more often, fear. He felt fear for his friends, because while some of them like Marceline were quite capable fighters, Princess Bubblegum and (dare he say it) Ice King weren't very good at defending themselves. PB was pretty smart but didn't have any special powers, and Finn didn't think Ice King would actually know he was in danger. On reflection, they probably felt the same way about him, considering he had no powers whatsoever (other than some pretty awesome kick-butt hero skills) and was the youngest in the group. He wondered whether anyone felt like his or her friends were safe. Flame Princess stirred next to him, turning over to one side and mumbling. Flame Princess was by no means the weakest member of their group, she was at least as powerful as the Ice King, but her weakness to water and her lack of knowledge about the world outside the Fire Kingdom made her vulnerable occasionally. As a nonaligned Fire Elemental, without her connections to him she wouldn't even be a target. Finn felt like he was putting her in danger by even being around her. He felt like they were all in danger because of him.

Meanwhile, two feet away, Flame Princess was having a rather enjoyable dream about eating marshmallows with Finn. She actually had never tasted a marshmallow, but she was pretty sure they must taste…er, how would Finn say it…algebraic! They were both cooking marshmallows over a fire she had lit, and having a completely nonsensical conversation, something about an astronaut. She was pretty certain she had heard Finn's joke before somewhere, now that she thought of it. As she looked up into the sky, which had Jake's face instead of a sun, dark green clouds began spreading, causing darkness to fall across the land. As she looked back towards Finn, the log he was sitting on split in half, both halves drifting to her left and her right respectively. As she watched in confusion, The Flame King took a seat on the half of the log to her left.

"You must choose, FP." Finn said, his voice flat and monotone. Him and Flame King both extended their hands, holding a pair of marshmallows. Finn's was a pristine white color, untouched by any blemishes. Flame King offered a blackened, charred marshmallow.

"Hoo!" The cosmic owl landed between them, whispering.

_The 7 must come, heroes all_

_Or to darkness the world shall fall_

_An army, a weapon against perilous might_

_Must be formed before the death of the light_

_Through their journey, one shall die_

_Or there will be no reason to try_

_But there is hope, death is kind_

_If through the darkness one keeps a clear mind._

_So, Princess, choose, if you can_

_Evil or Good will not be your end._

"Er…" She stared at the Marshmallows. She knew Finn would want her to take his, but the one her father was holding looked so good.

"Arrg!"

"You must choose." Finn said forcefully. "Choose me, and stand by my side. We will be heroes forever!"

"No daughter! Choose me. You will become ruler of the Fire Kingdom, and I will love you forever as I should have from the start!" Flame King exclaimed, almost yelling.

"Flame Princess! Choose me, I am the only one who can give you the life you deserve with me! Stay away from your evil father!" Finn shouted, drawing his sword and pointing it at the Flame King, preparing to attack.

"No! Choose me, I will fulfill your every wish! The pesky human must be destroyed!" Flame King replied, raising his fists and forming a fiery sword.

"Choose me!"

"Choose me!"

The two clashed, sword against sword.

"NO!" Flame Princess yelled angrily. "This isn't real. You both aren't real. Father, I know you care about me enough not to hurt Finn. And Finn, I know that as a hero, you would never fight my father because you know it would hurt me. You aren't real!"

The world dissolved into green mist. She was now standing on a flat, featureless gray plane, stretching in all directions. Behind her, she heard footsteps. Turning around, she saw Finn, in his customary adventurer clothing and bear hat. He walked towards her, arms outstretched.

"I'll support you, princess, no matter what you choose." Finn said, hugging her. He stepped away, and she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"And I'll do anything my little girl wants." Flame King said, smiling. Everything suddenly dissolved into smoke again. The Lich appeared in the mist.

"You shall die, and all of those you love as well." He stepped forwards, raising his hands, which ignited into a green ball of flames.

"I won't let that happen!" Finn appeared next to him, bedraggled, carrying his sword.

"Your hero will die." The Lich raised his hands, shooting his fire, and Finn dissolved into ash.

Flame Princess awoke screaming.

"FP! Are you alright?" Finn looked at her with concern.

"Yeah…I guess." Flame Princess rolled closer to Finn. "Bad dream."

"Don't worry. I'm sure it will turn out fine." Finn replied, putting his arm around her.

"Thanks for being there for me." She leaned against him. Behind her Finn blushed.

The following morning, the group awoke to a loud bell.

"We're here!" PB said, programming in the descent to the ground.

"And where exactly is here?" Jake asked, stretching to look out the window.

"You'll see." The hovercraft landed and the 7 of them stepped out. A large building with a road leading out to a raised platform was ahead of them. On the side of the building, the letters "APL" were written in a futuristic script. A robot appeared from a large door at the side of the building.

"Hello, and welcome to the Alchemical Propulsion Laboratory, or APL for short. Are you here for the tour or other reasons?"

"Er…" PB said, obviously confused.

"Excellent! The tour it is then. Follow me!" The robot rolled off towards the door. They followed him in to a long hallway, filled with glass doors to various rooms.

"This is Command and Control. The first room is for the Gullibility Rover, which is currently searching for signs of Abraham Lincoln on Mars." A large number of scientists sat around a screen displaying an image of a statue of Abraham Lincoln.

"And this is the…" The robot droned on.

"Bonnibel, what is this place?" Marceline asked, looking at the strange rooms.

"It used to be abandoned. I don't know what it is now."

"And here is our design chief, Werder Vown Brown." The robot said, pointing to a greatly dilapidated image of a human, with what might have been Werder Vown Brown written below it. They continued walking down the hallway to the office at the end. A greenish woman sat inside it, with brown hair and glasses.

"Visitors! Welcome! Neil, you're dismissed." The robot rolled back into the hallway.

"I'm Natalie Kirkman. Welcome to APL, or RASA as some call us."

"Er…What exactly do you do, Ms. Kirkman? And where did you get this building?" PB asked.

"Please, call me Natalie. It was abandoned when we found it. We converted it into our Vehicle Assembly Building. We are the leading organization for space travel at the moment."

"And may I ask what RASA stands for?"

"Republic Aeronautics and Space Administration. Don't you know that? You're in Republic territory after all."

"What is the Republic?"

"Oh. You really don't know then. The Republic is the government that controls this area."

"And space travel? But I thought rockets hadn't been reinvented yet."

"We reinvented them ourselves. Our first craft was Ooosat, a satellite that mapped Ooo." The woman said proudly.

"Do you have a gem about this big that provides large amounts of energy? Or a focusing crystal that looks like this? We need them." Natalie turned cold.

"We cannot give that to you."

"Why?"

"That gem is a key element of our new craft, _Traveler_. We need it to provide energy for the engines. It is an amazing artifact."

"We need it to save the world!"

"Well…there is one thing that you could do to get it. We happen to need three more crew members…Robots aren't very good at this sort of thing and I only have two volunteers right now but if three of you would volunteer…"

"Guys?"

"I'm staying on the ground." Mark said.

"I'll go anywhere for a new adventure." Finn said, stepping forwards.

"And I will too. Besides, I can serve as a backup engine." Flame Princess stepped forwards as well.

"I always said I wanted to go in a spaceship…" Marceline said, floating in a loop.

"Underage people are not allowed." Natalie pointed towards Finn and Flame Princess.

"Lady, we're saving the world. I don't think it matters how old we are." Finn replied, crossing his arms.

"Fine. But be careful. I'll go over the mission plan before the launch tomorrow, and give you the gem after you return."

"Mathematical!" Finn and Jake fist-bumped.

"But you'll have to talk to the Republic Government about the focusing crystal. I can't negotiate on their behalf."

"We'll get to that eventually."

Later that day, one of the two original crew came to talk to Finn, FP, and Marceline.

"Hi! I'm Real Harmstron! I'll be captaining this mission. I've been sent here to give you the basics on what we're doing."

"Hi. I'm Finn, and this is Flame Princess and Marceline."

"Our ship is the _Traveler_. Our mission plan is to fly into orbit, release a satellite, and then deorbit. The total mission time will be about a day. The ship will fly and touch down like an airplane on reentry. You won't really need to do anything other than follow our orders. Got it?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. We're good to go then. See you tomorrow on the Launchpad!"

"See you!"

Another weekend, another chapter. Read and review please, because if you like this story more people will read it if you review, and if you dislike it more people will read it and think it's dumb, so it works out either way!

Oh yeah,

Thank you to all my faithful reviewers:

Someone

Marshall

Winston

Micksekk

gogo11

Guest

10do

fioleefan1000

If I get 10 reviews, I might do something like a oneshot or whatevs.


	7. On Hiatus (Temporarily)

Hey! I'm putting this story on hiatus for one weekend, I'll be back next week, or, if I have time, this weekend. I have begun another story as well however, although I know it will be crazy to update, I just had a pretty awesome (In my opinion) idea. Thank you to my reviewers and the two new favorites I got, that's partially why I'll try to update this weekend. I also am going to be revising my first chapter, as about 50% of the people who begin reading my story stop there, and I feel like it isn't as good as the others. Again, thank you for all of the favorites and reviews, and also make sure to check out my other story, "The Left Path" which I just started. I think nobody has done something like it yet, so it should be interesting.


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